1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to construction features of a motor home and, more particularly, to a frame joint system and the component parts of the side walls and floor.
2. Description of Related Art
A motor home shell includes side walls, a roof, and end walls. The motor home shell is supported on a chassis or frame member. Frequently, the frame and joints of such constructions are formed of wood beams and plywood with fiberglass or molded plastic exteriors. Such constructions are relatively labor intensive, do not always provide a uniformity of product, and are subject to transportation flexing problems over the life of the product. Additionally, problems of water leakage frequently occur, along with the stress torquing of mobile structures.
The side walls of the motor home are generally mounted on top of the floor or on the side of the floor. With either of these mountings, cumbersome attachments for aligning the side wall and the floor are often required. The prior art has proposed several approaches for attaching and aligning the side wall to the floor of a motor home. U.S. Pat. No. 2,546,290 discloses wall and floor pieces interlocking by means of single and double flanges on each respective piece. U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,293 discloses corner connections for a camper in which a corner piece has ends which form sockets for the wall and floor panels. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,576 discloses a corner piece having sawtoothed connectors which engage with complementary sawtoothed connectors on wall and ceilings inserts. Other prior art approaches for attaching and aligning motor home side walls and floors are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,670, U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,541, U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,989, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,382,376.
Sealing the connection of the floor to the side wall against the weather further complicates the construction. Many approaches in the prior art use caulking, silicone, and other messy substances for sealing purposes.
The prior art in the field of motor home construction is still seeking convenient and efficient methods and apparatus for attaching and aligning the side wall of the motor home to the floor. A sturdy and easy-to-install connector can reduce manufacturing cost and increase durability of the motor home. Thus, a need exists in the prior art to accurately and efficiently join the side wall to the floor during manufacture.